Sweet and Sour Meatballs - traditional
This recipe was one Nina fixed often for parties when I was at home. When Sunset Ridge Church of Christ made a church cookbook back in the 60’s or 70’s This recipe was included over Buddy’s name. I don’t know if Daddy ever made this himself, but at least it is credited to him in the cookbook. I still have a copy of this cookbook, and still look in it for several recipes. However, I have tried to transfer my favorite ones here since, over the years, my Sunset Ridge cookbook has lost all its plastic binding and about the last 10 pages. I no longer have an index, so I hunt from memory.
Don't miss the update on this at the bottom. The world of meatballs has moved on quite a bit, and who even has a chafing dish anymore??
Ingredients:
Yield 100 meatballs
chafing dish
2 lbs ground beef
1 egg
1 large onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs
salt
1 12 oz bottle of chili sauce
1 10 oz jar of grape jelly
1 lemon, juiced
Instructions:
Mix first 5 ingredients and roll into small meatballs. Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 until browned on the outside and having no pink on the inside - about 20 minutes (depending on the size of the meatballs).
Mix last three ingredients in a chafing dish and add cooked meatballs. Warm thoroughly. These get better the longer they sit in the hot chafing dish.
UPDATE – Who still has a chafing dish, anyway?
You will need a crockpot.
Start with 2-4 lbs of store bought meatballs. They are cheaper than buying the same weight of meat. That is because they have filler - like the onion, eggs and bread crumbs in the traditional recipe.
The number of meatballs will depend on the size of your crockpot and the number of people you intend to feed. Plan for 3-5 meatballs per person. Check the label of you meatball package to see how big the meatballs are. I like 3/4 oz size if you can find them.
If you want a vegetarian option, sub veggie meatballs here. Our favorite ones are from Ikea, but we settle for others, because we just don’t get to an Ikea that often. Usually we end up with the Morningstar Farms or Gardein. We like the ones from Aldis, but they are frequently out of stock.
The meatballs can be browned before using, if you prefer, but they come fully cooked so that isn’t required.
The chili sauce, grape jelly and lemon juice don’t change, but to spice them up add:
1 tsp Granulated Garlic
½ tsp cayenne
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp curry powder
Place all the ingredients except the meatballs into the crockpot. Stir well. Add the meatballs and cook slowly for several hours. This gives all the flavors time to marry. At first it may not look like enough sauce, but as they cook the meatballs will make more juice.